Philip K. Dick

Philip K. Dick in 60s

It's Impossible to see through another person's eyes. France became Vichy and Dresden was fire bombed. You hear he or she died or the partner of someone no longer recognizes their other half. Whether you're a "virtue signaler" or truly an altruist willing to risk your life to save the Strangers Drowning a la Larissa MacFarquar, you can never know the suffering of the other. The United States is a bit like the good-natured person who's pained when they see an accident where others slow down to enjoy the circus-like atmosphere of ambulances and police cars. Ukraine and Taiwan are faraway. Philip K. Dick wrote Man in the High Castle, but how probable is it that Axis powers or their equivalent now (N. Korean, Russia, China, MAGA) could irreparably change the landscape. Finland and Sweden rushed to join NATO in fear of Russian imperialism, but the US has always been in a peculiar position of never having been invaded--simply because the enemy is too far away (unless you consider Cuba a threat). Your dying friend is Taiwan and you're like the US or Canada--pondering whether to join forces in a war that sometimes feels like it really isn't yours.

listen to "Fortnight" by Taylor Swift

and watch "Terminal Bar" by Stefan Nadelman